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Its been fun while it lasted, but this game is on its last legs.
gamesrfun
Member Posts: 127
I have a level 80 Guardian and a level 74 TOS...newly merged with Tyranny. However I also like new servers, so I decided to give Agony a shot (I thought I might join in the race to see who can level fastest).
Yet Agony, a brand new PvP server, in a game with only one truly active PvP server (Bloodspire has been decimated now), is a ghost town. You think the wild lands/white sands/underhall would be busy, right? It's not. A quick server count primetime had 300 people on. Wow.
Curious, I take a peek at the new PvE server. After all, they kept an extra PvE server compared to PvP, maybe it is busier, right? Wrong. It is even worse there...150 people.
No better evidence of these new servers attracting no one are the new forums. Open for a week and combined they have a total of 8 threads, consisting of "I'm first" and "Who is going to play on here" and "Can we transfer off of here if it is dead in 3 months?".
So I've given up on a new server...there is absolutely no interest. And with bloodspire being completely destroyed by the transfers, that leaves 2 empty PvP servers and Tyranny.
One PvP server. One busy one in the UK. Two viable PvP servers in a game that sold 1 MILLION COPIES. This sucks.
/And to make matters worse, Tyranny is down to 4-5 instances of Khesh a night from the merge peak of 8-9. My initial server, pre-merge in July, had 4-5 instances of Khesh. We are averaging 600-700 people peak. We are ESSENTIALLY AS BUSY AS THE LARGEST DARK AGE OF CAMELOT SERVER.
//rant over...but this sucks.
Comments
Did you know that when you do a search it doesn't pull everybody up? So your number won't be right. Get yourself a friend in an area and try again I bet he won't come up on the search it has been different since a few weeks after launch and is not an indication or accurate measurement of population. The search function is broken and doesn't work like you think it does. A quick look on the official forums will tell you this.
Did you also know that it doesn't pull up people who tagged themselves as "Hidden" ? alot of people (myself included) ensure we remain hidden so we dont get harrassed by farmers trying to sell. So your number won't be right.
You could always transfer to Cimmeria where the worlds first rank 5 PvP'r became
I would give it a few more weeks, it is too early to see how the new fresh start servers wil go.
Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? Wait till the PvP resources come in the Border Kingdoms where the consequence system wont matter.
Your timing stinks.
This game is getting better.
Did you know that when you do a search it doesn't pull everybody up? So your number won't be right. Get yourself a friend in an area and try again I bet he won't come up on the search it has been different since a few weeks after launch and is not an indication or accurate measurement of population. The search function is broken and doesn't work like you think it does. A quick look on the official forums will tell you this.
Did you also know that it doesn't pull up people who tagged themselves as "Hidden" ? alot of people (myself included) ensure we remain hidden so we dont get harrassed by farmers trying to sell. So your number won't be right.
You could always transfer to Cimmeria where the worlds first rank 5 PvP'r became
I would give it a few more weeks, it is too early to see how the new fresh start servers wil go.
Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? Wait till the PvP resources come in the Border Kingdoms where the consequence system wont matter.
Can you please point me to the post that says that search is broken? I'm positive that it works as intended: if you are hidden you do not show up and if you are not hidden you show up.
That being said, the numbers I provided were rounded up and not down. That covers a large percentage of players if they were hidden...which I don't think most people are. Especially on the new servers. And do you even play? Gold farm spam happens maybe once a day at most, if at all.
And no matter how you slice it, 4-5 instances of Khesh speaks volumes.
Sweet Irony, that's the line AA pulls out on anyone who is critical of the game.
FC monkeyed with the search function and the server-pop-login functions (i.e. intentionally broke), when the players ran from the game like a gas station fire the first months after launch. Makes you wonder why.
"the Game is better than ever" is the only answer some folks are willing to hear.
Did you know that when you do a search it doesn't pull everybody up? So your number won't be right. Get yourself a friend in an area and try again I bet he won't come up on the search it has been different since a few weeks after launch and is not an indication or accurate measurement of population. The search function is broken and doesn't work like you think it does. A quick look on the official forums will tell you this.
Did you also know that it doesn't pull up people who tagged themselves as "Hidden" ? alot of people (myself included) ensure we remain hidden so we dont get harrassed by farmers trying to sell. So your number won't be right.
You could always transfer to Cimmeria where the worlds first rank 5 PvP'r became
I would give it a few more weeks, it is too early to see how the new fresh start servers wil go.
Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? Wait till the PvP resources come in the Border Kingdoms where the consequence system wont matter.
Can you please point me to the post that says that search is broken? I'm positive that it works as intended: if you are hidden you do not show up and if you are not hidden you show up.
That being said, the numbers I provided were rounded up and not down. That covers a large percentage of players if they were hidden...which I don't think most people are. Especially on the new servers. And do you even play? Gold farm spam happens maybe once a day at most, if at all.
And no matter how you slice it, 4-5 instances of Khesh speaks volumes.
Search both official forums - there are plenty of posts on the matter. You will find people who can't search for others when they know exactly where they are. Sorry but it is common knowledge that the search is not working right. Some I double checked before writing what i did to make sure. Gold Spam is Gold spam - don't want it at all I know many people who are the same too.
Like I said before "Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? "
I have been testing / playing for over 18 months now. Total access to the search feature was limited just after launch (even then was not working properly) as people were pulling numbers up from different servers - which, as a publicaly traded company, FC can't give the means to pull sub numbers.
Actually, you couldn't be more mistaken if you tried very hard to be.
The game really is better than it ever has been at this point, server populations are bustling and people are having a great time playing. Whether they be crafting, just grinding mobs, grinding quests, gathering, etc... most features of the game are polished and entertaining to partake in.
I own two accounts, I pre-ordered a Collectors Edition at launch, as well as a Standard Edition retail copy. I recently resubbed my lower level account, just so I could pass judgment on a few specific areas that I wanted to see improved and hoped they had dealt with since my last foray into Hyboria (and to help me decide if enough had been done to warrant me resubbing my higher level account with my 72 Guard).
Bugs that I had issues with before were no longer present in any form, lag spikes were gone, community was bustling and people were being social and respectful (mostly, you cant win em' all). Broken quests and feats were fixed for my character, as I'm sure they have been with all classes by now, and I was just generally pleased to see the path the game had taken for the better.
The future is positive, I'll be resubbing today on my higher level account and proceeding to 80. I also took advantage of the free transfers and moved my main to Set PVE. Which I have wanted to do for a very, very long time.
Actually, you couldn't be more mistaken if you tried very hard to be.
The game really is better than it ever has been at this point, server populations are bustling and people are having a great time playing. Whether they be crafting, just grinding mobs, grinding quests, gathering, etc... most features of the game are polished and entertaining to partake in.
I own two accounts, I pre-ordered a Collectors Edition at launch, as well as a Standard Edition retail copy. I recently resubbed my lower level account, just so I could pass judgment on a few specific areas that I wanted to see improved and hoped they had dealt with since my last foray into Hyboria (and to help me decide if enough had been done to warrant me resubbing my higher level account with my 72 Guard).
Bugs that I had issues with before were no longer present in any form, lag spikes were gone, community was bustling and people were being social and respectful (mostly, you cant win em' all). Broken quests and feats were fixed for my character, as I'm sure they have been with all classes by now, and I was just generally pleased to see the path the game had taken for the better.
The future is positive, I'll be resubbing today on my higher level account and proceeding to 80. I also took advantage of the free transfers and moved my main to Set PVE. Which I have wanted to do for a very, very long time.
I guess you don't know till you try it rings true.. I think for some "the Game is better than ever" posts are dreadful news and they are beside themselves in what to reply.
As for the OP serious, the search function is borked (some say on purpose). Many RP's for example I know limit to group chat and turn on "Hidden".
There was even a guy from the dev chat today who said Fury server was "too chaotic" for PvP.
Did you know that when you do a search it doesn't pull everybody up? So your number won't be right. Get yourself a friend in an area and try again I bet he won't come up on the search it has been different since a few weeks after launch and is not an indication or accurate measurement of population. The search function is broken and doesn't work like you think it does. A quick look on the official forums will tell you this.
Did you also know that it doesn't pull up people who tagged themselves as "Hidden" ? alot of people (myself included) ensure we remain hidden so we dont get harrassed by farmers trying to sell. So your number won't be right.
You could always transfer to Cimmeria where the worlds first rank 5 PvP'r became
I would give it a few more weeks, it is too early to see how the new fresh start servers wil go.
Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? Wait till the PvP resources come in the Border Kingdoms where the consequence system wont matter.
Can you please point me to the post that says that search is broken? I'm positive that it works as intended: if you are hidden you do not show up and if you are not hidden you show up.
That being said, the numbers I provided were rounded up and not down. That covers a large percentage of players if they were hidden...which I don't think most people are. Especially on the new servers. And do you even play? Gold farm spam happens maybe once a day at most, if at all.
And no matter how you slice it, 4-5 instances of Khesh speaks volumes.
Search both official forums - there are plenty of posts on the matter. You will find people who can't search for others when they know exactly where they are. Sorry but it is common knowledge that the search is not working right. Some I double checked before writing what i did to make sure. Gold Spam is Gold spam - don't want it at all I know many people who are the same too.
Like I said before "Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? "
I have been testing / playing for over 18 months now. Total access to the search feature was limited just after launch (even then was not working properly) as people were pulling numbers up from different servers - which, as a publicaly traded company, FC can't give the means to pull sub numbers.
I've played this game since early June and I've read the boards (mostly as a lurker) for over half a year. I've never once seen any concrete proof that search is broken. But we aren't going to agree so I'm moving on from there.
I care if there are only 5 instances of Khesh when there is only one NA PvP server (the other two don't count until they have more than a flatline population). Because you need people to play the game to make it fun.
And sorry, Funcom as a publicly traded company should be divulging to the investing PUBLIC what its subscription rates are. If they were good, it would improve the stock price. The only reason to hide it is if things are going bad. What they are doing is akin to GM not announcing how many vehicles it sold in a quarter.
And despite that, Funcom cannot hide how many subscribers AoC has. Funcom doesn't exactly make big money from Anarchy Online or from box sales anymore. Most of its revenue comes from Age of Conan. When they release revenue numbers you can take that number, adjust for some box sales and AO, and divide it by what a subscription costs for 3 months, and you'll have a pretty darn good estimate of how many people are playing.
I'm no math expert but last quarter they had 18 million dollars in revenue, minus 2 million for Anarchy Online and box sales (as a guess). 16 million / $15 x 3 months = 350,000 subscribers...which is pretty darn good. That covered July 1st to September 30th as an average. I guess we'll find out next quarter how AoC did during the holiday season. I bet it is lower by a lot...probably not even 12 million.
Actually, search is broken.
I had done a search of 1-80 and got one full page of names. I then did a search for level 20-50 and got....a full page of names.
The problem I have found with the search is that it will only give one page. I cannot ever get more than one.
If I narrow down, I can get a somewhat accurate count (like doing a 1-10, 11-20, then narrow down more, like 21-25, etc.)...but, it will never be perfect with people logging on and off.
As to the game getting better, yep, it sure has.
Sweet Irony, that's the line AA pulls out on anyone who is critical of the game.
FC monkeyed with the search function and the server-pop-login functions (i.e. intentionally broke), when the players ran from the game like a gas station fire the first months after launch. Makes you wonder why.
"the Game is better than ever" is the only answer some folks are willing to hear.
Sweet irony that the only posts you ever post are the same unhelpful and empty comments in the same forum. The same comments but different words post after post after post. Makes someone wonder why and what many of us think about your credibility.
There Is Always Hope!
Search is not broken. It gives you a maximum of 50 names. Therefore you always make sure you search within a level range that gives you less than 50 names.
Therefore it is not broken...you simply do not know how to use it. And people logging on/off over the 2 minutes it takes to survey the server isn't going to make a difference. All that you would expect is that net inflow and outflow will more or less be equal.
Identifying confounds is one thing...identifying relevant confounds is another.
You can do proper search and get all the players online ( errors those logging on/off while you preform search )
Basically to do it right you need to set each filter separately.
Filters:
- Map
- Race ( Aq., Cimmerian, Stygian)
- Class Demo, necro etc..
And even then you can hit bumps like i tried to see how many necros are in khessatta but it was always maxed page (50 players max )
Unfortunately Necros are always Stygians so you cant break them by class.
I dont know how US servers are doing but on Fury EU there are daily fights 30-50 vs 30-50 vs 30-50 in kheshatta.
Same goes for Sieging if guild is not hiding the keep at some wierd AM times its definitely getting sieged.
Futilez[Do You Have What It Takes ?]
I helped to create a brand new guild 5 weeks ago (just prior to Xmas). And I was heavily recruiting during that time. I can personally say that people ARE coming to AOC, both brand new players that have NEVER even played WoW AND veterans are returning. Now, we have a guild of about 30 - 40 casual and hardcore type members, with over 100 chars in guild list. And thats only in 5 weeks. Also we weren't the only ones recruiting. I've even had to turn people away because we had enough of that class to start raiding intially again.
Its not a deluge, but its an influx of players nontheless. Things are getting better. There are positive responses to the server merges. Its not perfect by all means. And theres still work to do. But I believe that AOC is now on an upturned slope. in terms of popularity.
With constant vigilance this game COULD win back a sizable portion of the playerbase it lost. Nothing is beyond repair in AOC.
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
Oh wow. You aren't serious are you?
That is what one would call a futile attempt to sound educated. You misuse words worse than Bush Jr. did.
Let me address this anyways.
#1: This has nothing to do with being a science. This is pure unadulterated empirical data. It is not a detriment that it functions exactly the way it is intended. The proper word would have been "limitation". You work within the parameters to get what you want by not being retarded. It would be another thing if the search function was not working as intended; at that point you could make an argument that something was internally wrong and it should not be trusted. We do not have this situation here, so your point is moot.
#2: The query does not require that you switch zones. It polls the entire server, minus those who are hidden. If you have chosen a search query that will return less than 50 people (and that is not hard in this game) there is no need to demarcate the information further. What is the thought process that you went through to make these other quirky demands?
#3: There is only ONE variable that I cannot control. Whether people are hidden or not. And a combination of a few epistemologies you seem to be unfamiliar with...namely common sense and direct observation...I know that the number of people anonymous is small. Significant but small. So sure, if you want to have an exact number you aren't going to get it. But substantively you will...and that is what I want.
#4: Data does not have to be exact to be useful when you are dealing with macro issues like "game population". It would be important if your stated goal was: "Is Lucy playing on Tyranny?". Do you get the difference?
#5: No, there are not infinite numbers of other alternative explanations. If there were science as a discipline would not exist.
Go chase imaginary conspiracies for a while please.
Did you know that when you do a search it doesn't pull everybody up? So your number won't be right. Get yourself a friend in an area and try again I bet he won't come up on the search it has been different since a few weeks after launch and is not an indication or accurate measurement of population. The search function is broken and doesn't work like you think it does. A quick look on the official forums will tell you this.
Did you also know that it doesn't pull up people who tagged themselves as "Hidden" ? alot of people (myself included) ensure we remain hidden so we dont get harrassed by farmers trying to sell. So your number won't be right.
You could always transfer to Cimmeria where the worlds first rank 5 PvP'r became
I would give it a few more weeks, it is too early to see how the new fresh start servers wil go.
Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? Wait till the PvP resources come in the Border Kingdoms where the consequence system wont matter.
Can you please point me to the post that says that search is broken? I'm positive that it works as intended: if you are hidden you do not show up and if you are not hidden you show up.
That being said, the numbers I provided were rounded up and not down. That covers a large percentage of players if they were hidden...which I don't think most people are. Especially on the new servers. And do you even play? Gold farm spam happens maybe once a day at most, if at all.
And no matter how you slice it, 4-5 instances of Khesh speaks volumes.
Search both official forums - there are plenty of posts on the matter. You will find people who can't search for others when they know exactly where they are. Sorry but it is common knowledge that the search is not working right. Some I double checked before writing what i did to make sure. Gold Spam is Gold spam - don't want it at all I know many people who are the same too.
Like I said before "Just one question why would it bother you if there were 9 or 5 instances of one area when you can not be in them all at once? "
I have been testing / playing for over 18 months now. Total access to the search feature was limited just after launch (even then was not working properly) as people were pulling numbers up from different servers - which, as a publicaly traded company, FC can't give the means to pull sub numbers.
I've played this game since early June and I've read the boards (mostly as a lurker) for over half a year. I've never once seen any concrete proof that search is broken. But we aren't going to agree so I'm moving on from there.
I care if there are only 5 instances of Khesh when there is only one NA PvP server (the other two don't count until they have more than a flatline population). Because you need people to play the game to make it fun.
And sorry, Funcom as a publicly traded company should be divulging to the investing PUBLIC what its subscription rates are. If they were good, it would improve the stock price. The only reason to hide it is if things are going bad. What they are doing is akin to GM not announcing how many vehicles it sold in a quarter.
And despite that, Funcom cannot hide how many subscribers AoC has. Funcom doesn't exactly make big money from Anarchy Online or from box sales anymore. Most of its revenue comes from Age of Conan. When they release revenue numbers you can take that number, adjust for some box sales and AO, and divide it by what a subscription costs for 3 months, and you'll have a pretty darn good estimate of how many people are playing.
I'm no math expert but last quarter they had 18 million dollars in revenue, minus 2 million for Anarchy Online and box sales (as a guess). 16 million / $15 x 3 months = 350,000 subscribers...which is pretty darn good. That covered July 1st to September 30th as an average. I guess we'll find out next quarter how AoC did during the holiday season. I bet it is lower by a lot...probably not even 12 million.
funcom do not have to release subscription numbers to the public, now as for share prices look at the market overall. The whole market has been on downward spiral since june so share prices for funcom will be affected like everyone else.
Well hidden or not, what is the trouble here. Log on search level 30-35 and ask your friend to do the same at the same time. YOU WILL GET DIFFERENT RESULTS. No need to speculate, just do it!
I agree with all of what you said. Especially this last bit. Age of Conan was the number 4 best selling game of 2008 in the US. There is plenty of opportunity for many to come back and see whats up now. Plus those new to the game, those people who wait awhile after a games released - like the sensible ones
"Better than ever" doesn't mean much considering how low AoC has been. I mean you can spray some cologne on a turd and its 'better than ever' but its still a turd.
All I know is if its good enough to draw players back, FC will offer free trials with free client downloads.
I agree with all of what you said. Especially this last bit. Age of Conan was the number 4 best selling game of 2008 in the US. There is plenty of opportunity for many to come back and see whats up now. Plus those new to the game, those people who wait awhile after a games released - like the sensible ones
I used to think they same about Vanguard but after 15 months or so realised it was never going to get the following it could have if they'd had a good launch. I remember playing lowbie alts and meeting new people but they would all mostly leave never to be seen again.
My guild went from AoC to WAR and now most have gotten bored and filtered back to other mmo's. Not a single person i know went back to AoC and some just have stopped playing mmo's for now.
What the Op is saying is correct.
Check it out.
Even if there were 400 people online (i even added 100 people, because that's the kind of nice guy I am)
How many of those are new subscribers? -very, very few I'll bet.
How many are gold farmers?--a crap load, but even they are taking off.
How many are people just checking it out on an alt?--Tons I'll bet.
With the transfers many guilds are destroyed now. It's only been over 24hrs and FC is deleting all kinds of threads where people want to transfer off one rule set and goto another (EG PvP to RP PvP). But then they realize that they can't get refunded for all their city mats. Then they quit, and the Norwegian fanbois flame them...lol, its classic (go play WoW-lol). I am willing to bet a lot of the people on the Fresh Start servers are those reminents of displaced guildies.
The game just isn't fun enough or balanced enough for grinding to lvl 80 again for most people. Never mind gathering for tier 1 2 and 3 cities again. Screw that I say.--not even if the game was free would i want to do that once.
I find it funny that AoC's broken game can't even count people on the server properly...that's rich.
Funnier than that--I always thought that FC doesn't disclose their population because they were being secretive....now im thinking, maybe they don't know because they don't have the technology to figure it out...lol. Maybe thats what Famine does all day-lol.l Wonder if he uses the counts voice from Sesame Street when he counts.
Vone villtle Varvarian
Tvo Villa Vinders
<Lightning and thunder>
It's dying. I should have listened to those who said it at release day that this game would fail. Wasted 3 months myselfe...
But as a smart man once said: No matter howmuch of a desaster a game is, if you put it on the internet there will be a tiny handfull of people that like it and form a 'community' around it...
Anyway fail is fail and you are better off accepting it.
Well I did a re-try. have to agree that it never was better than now ,what is a double edged thing, since it meant that in the past it really was bad and it still isn't super, despite the rivers of "digital ink" used by AA ,that with his viral marketing ( love this one, trademark SWG forum, veterane refuge) game correspondant posts, tried to suck more people in a rotten product at that time than FC itself.
that does it deserves a try out ? yes
will it ever be the game that it could have been? doubt that.
but it is now a better product , for sure.
I agree with all of what you said. Especially this last bit. Age of Conan was the number 4 best selling game of 2008 in the US. There is plenty of opportunity for many to come back and see whats up now. Plus those new to the game, those people who wait awhile after a games released - like the sensible ones
I used to think they same about Vanguard but after 15 months or so realised it was never going to get the following it could have if they'd had a good launch. I remember playing lowbie alts and meeting new people but they would all mostly leave never to be seen again.
My guild went from AoC to WAR and now most have gotten bored and filtered back to other mmo's. Not a single person i know went back to AoC and some just have stopped playing mmo's for now.
Sorry but if you play AoC right now there is no comparison to the issues that VG had in the past. Conan sold way more, retained more subscribers, lived through warhammer's launch and will live through darkfalls. It lives through every other person predicting it's demise every other month. It has 5 times as many devs working on the game as VG has. It has had a lot more updates to it than VG has. VG is not a bad game, but I could log on Seradon after the last update and level to level 12 without seeing a soul - couldn't say the same if a roll an alt on AoC.
People can play more than 1 mmo, I was playing VG same time as AoC in the summer and then WAR for a bit.
I still think that if you want to compare other games then more people own AoC and left months ago, which gives rise to a higher percentage of people who may take a second look. However, there are far more people out there who haven't tried the game at all. Your right though a lot left tried other things and left them too, a lot of those people who had inital issues and this all really depends on what they were could easily take a second look and find those issues aren't any more - best to wait on the trial / welcome back offer when it materializes.